My Yowie Encounter - Photographic 'Expedition'

About 7 years ago I had a brush with a creature that is not meant to exist.

The full story of that encounter can be read in the first few paragraphs of my THE YOWIE
LIVES ON thread, which is also linked in my signature.

I posted a few weeks back in that thread that I intended to go back (for first time I had been back since it happened) to the place my encounter
occurred.

I took that trip today.

I've taken photos along the way, and made a few interesting discoveries. I didn't see my hairy assailant, but I did see possible marks that he still
resides in the area.

For the simple reason of wanting to avoid harassment by Yowie 'experts' wanting me to take them to the spot (it happened last time I posted a thread
about this), I am leaving the exact location out, but someone desperate enough will find mention of it in my posting history.

It is a strange feeling walking from complete civilization and within 10 minutes being enveloped in a dense, dark bushland that looks as if it has
been undisturbed since the beginning of time.

The area has a well worn track that is a shortcut between parts of town, and it is along this track that my encounter occurred. Today I ventured off
the track and into denser areas of the park in an attempt to find something tangible.

The entrance to the track

Leaving the track behind

Grasses that go on for huge distances

In the centre of the park, tall grasses spread out for huge distances and it was here I made my first interesting discovery.

Crushed grass

Crushed grass

Crushed grass

The photos do not illustrate it as well as I would have liked, but what I am trying to show is that there were some fairly well crushed areas of the
grass that seemed to be trails of some sort for animals.

Some of the grass was pushed down in huge sections as if something very large had moved through the area.

Deer and kangaroos are known inhabitants of the area, but I doubt their bulk would be able to make some of the impressions I saw.

After nearly an hour and a half of walking, the bush simply got too dense to go further by myself, so I turned back and headed back, but took a
different path than on the way in.

This area of the park was more like rainforest, and was on the banks of a small creek that meandered through the park.

Grasslands give way to dense rainforest

Here I found another interesting path through the grass and trees, as if something had rampaged through the area in a hurry.

Thick track of grass heading into dense scrub that was crushed underfoot by something

Not far from the above track was an interesting tree. It was as if the bark had been ripped or chewed off by something.

Mauled tree

Another 30 minutes or so of uneventful hiking connected me back with the shortcut path and the way back out of the bush.

Never been so happy to see a man-made path

It was a strange feeling going back, especially by myself. I didn't expect to have a run in with any angry creatures this time, as it was in the
middle of the day. I did find what (hopefully isn't just my overeager imagination) might be some loose evidence that the creature is still in the
area.

I'd love to get hold of some trail cams and put them in some of the spots I came across one day.

My first thought upon seeing the crushed grass in the first crushed grass picture was "other people have been walking here and created a trail."

My first thought upon seeing the second crushed grass picture was "something large was lying down here."

My first thought upon seeing the third crushed grass picture was "someone wheeled something through here or a machine was used to make a trail"

My thought for the rampaged track was "Either a lot of people had a picnic here, or a number of animals rested here, or something large tussled
here."

And my thoughts for the tree picture were first "BEAR!!" followed by "or ELK!!!"

But overall... hm... that's weird. I obviously don't know the area nor know if other people frequently walk through it... that tree picture I think
may be explained by the male deer rubbing their antlers on the bark...

I'm curious as to what other people have to say. The crushed grass is strange, though.

My first thought upon seeing the crushed grass in the first crushed grass picture was "other people have been walking here and created a
trail."

Possible. Though, I thought I'd clarify the 'people' factor. I can understand signs of humans around the maintained track itself and within a small
distance on either side. The spots I ventured to are fairly remote and I really don't know how often people get back there. I saw no evidence that
people had been there recently.

My first thought upon seeing the second crushed grass picture was "something large was lying down here."

That is exactly what I thought when I came across it. It was as if something the size of a fridge had lied down on the spot.

My first thought upon seeing the third crushed grass picture was "someone wheeled something through here or a machine was used to make a
trail"

I can guarantee that no one got anything with wheels in that far. Unless they air-dropped it. The grass was crushed downwards all in the same
direction, so whatever made it moved through at a relatively steady pace.

Possibly human made... though god knows why.

My thought for the rampaged track was "Either a lot of people had a picnic here, or a number of animals rested here, or something large
tussled here."

This particular spot was fairly close to the track. About 30 mins walk away. So I guess it is possible people caused it. If you look again, I can
describe it a bit better to help make up for the fairly bad photo. The grass was all bent down as if crushed under something heavy, and it went into
the bush about 10metres then curved left and kept going until I couldn't see it any further.

It was as if something that was moving at a high speed plowed into the grass and slogged its way through.

And my thoughts for the tree picture were first "BEAR!!" followed by "or ELK!!!"

I can also guarantee that we have no elk or bears here. The only animals to even come close to the size of a bear are the kangaroos, which can get
fairly large. The deer in the area are all small and relatively docile.

But overall... hm... that's weird. I obviously don't know the area nor know if other people frequently walk through it... that tree picture I
think may be explained by the male deer rubbing their antlers on the bark...

I'm curious as to what other people have to say. The crushed grass is strange, though.

Hi Foof,
any water near where you encountered the "crushed grass"?
It sounds ike to me you have found a spot where Kangaroos like to relax!
You will know this by the nearby presence of water, and lots of doppings, like spherical 10 cent pieces!

Hi Foof,
any water near where you encountered the "crushed grass"?
It sounds ike to me you have found a spot where Kangaroos like to relax!
You will know this by the nearby presence of water, and lots of doppings, like spherical 10 cent pieces!

There is a small creek nearby, and by small I mean nearly dried up.

There are 'roos in the area, but the biggest I've seen is about 5ft tall. In my opinion they probably don't have the weight to make these
impressions. A group of them could, though. I'll admit that.

Edit to add: I didn't see a single 'roo or deer on my trip yesterday, although I admit I was making a huge amount of noise trying to get through the
bush.

This reminded me of what I read sometime ago. If it has been posted before, my apologies.

It was an encounter by Bill Oh Chee, former Queensland National Party senator.

BILL O'Chee can remember it like it was yesterday. It was the day the former Queensland National Party senator came face to face with a creature
straight out of a nightmare.

A young O'Chee was with a group of 20 fellow TSS students returning from a two-day camp near Springbrook when they saw what they described as a 3m
tall hair-covered creature.

To this day, Mr O'Chee is certain what he saw was the mythical yowie.

He told The Gold Coast Bulletin on November 17, 1977 that the animal approached the boys' camp on several occasions, at one stage coming within 10m
of their cabins.

"About 20 of us saw it," he said then.

"It was about 3m tall, covered in hair, had a flat face and walked to the side in a crab-like style.

"It smashed small saplings and trees like matchsticks as it careered through the bush, we spotted it several times and once watched it through
binoculars. It definitely was there. www.barossa-region.org...

The fact that so many were witness to this event makes it so credible, unless it's mass hallucination.

There is plenty of credible witnesses around. Probably hundreds more we don't know about because of the stigma attached to stories like this.

Originally posted by swinggal
Cool thread.

Being an Aussie myself, i know that kangroos 'nest' at night. I have seen big areas of ground in WA that have been flattened like that by roos
sleeping at night.

The tree is a Paperbark Tree. The bark falls off or can be pulled off in large sections and yes, you and paint and write on it.

I DO however believe that there is more to most remote areas of bush than meets the eye.

Quite a possibility about the 'roos. As I said earlier, I know they are in the area.

You are right about the tree too. They are fairly brittle. Hopefully, when I post the hi-res version tomorrow, you can see what I saw, which was that
it seemed to have been ripped off in a large chunk. I don't see a person going out there to do it, although I can't 100% discount that it was done
by someone.

WhenI was young and used to accompany my grandfather on shooting expeditions in the Southern highlands, I saw these impressions many times. kangaroos
are habitually pack animals, and although seen singularly, the pack is never far away.
When we manage to see them singularly, it is just a freak occurance that they didn't hear or smell you!
At night they are commonly found to 'roost' with the rest of the herd, which is noramlly close to a water source.

Hi Foof,
I just wanted to say that I hope you don't think me overly sceptical with my 'Kangaroo' comments!
The truth is : thats what it looks like to me....I am not saying that there are no Yowies out there to be encountered though. And I respect the fact
that you are out and about, having a look- not being the idle armchair critic!
May you find your Yowie

Here a litttle tale you may find interesting.........
When I was at primary school ' Emu Heights Public', I remember a story in the local newspaper ( early 1980's).
The story explained boy returning home from school to his family home that was in a fairly remote locale, on the outskirts of Lithgow.
He would disembark from his afternoon bus, and walk 2 or 3 KMS to his home; a rural property.
Not returning home on time, the boys mother and brother drove the bush track which lead to their home in search of the boy.
They located the boys school bag and jumper; not long after they found the boy as if dazed, weeping, distraught and wandering around aimlessly not far
from the roadside.
The boys mother anxiouly too him to hospital where they diagnosed shock, and administered tranquilizers.
When the boy was calm enough to explain what had happened, he explained that as walking up the dirt road he saw a large figure on the road side about
50 ahead, after negotiatng a bend.
Startled the boy remebered seeing this huge 'yowie' coming toward him; and that was the last thing he could recall.
That believe it or not is a true story. I think it may have been the Penrith Press that printed the story or a local paper from Springwood.
But one things for sure my friends and I, whom lived in a similar yet not as remote bush setting, were very scared! I think it was around 1983.

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